“Yes, it is.”
They stood there for a moment, the silence hanging between them.
“Did you need anything else?”
“Your keys to your car,” Drake nodded, tugging on his collar. “I just need your keys, and I’m outta here.”
Nodding, she grabbed her keys and pulled them out of her pocket before looking at him. Angling her head, she paused, waited, and then said the unthinkable. In another world, she would have never dreamed of talking with him because he seemed out of her league, untouchable, yet she’d seen some of the strangest moments mixed with miscommunication that two strangers could share… and yet, they were still here, still standing.
“You should let this part of you out more,” she said nervously, looking at him with a wariness as she braced herself for another random comeback or crack at her, just anything to take her down a notch – or twenty. “You can be nice when you try.”
He reached for the keys, leaned forward, and met her gaze head-on. Their eyes held, and she could hear their breath between them as the intensity grew. He was inches from her lips, and she’d just kissed his cheek. What would it be like to actually be friends with him, to be in a relationship, or to just give in and kiss him until they were both breathless and senseless in each other’s arms.
“Yoink,” he breathed, grabbing the keys from her – and ran.
Steffi was so startled at the abrupt change that she stood there for the second it took for him to get to the front door, before she turned. Sure enough, the man was running for his life. He sprang out of the entryway with all the grace of a ballerina – or maybe Wylie Coyote – and then scrambled like Scooby Doo,trying to make a sudden right back to his house before she could stop him.
It was so out of left field, so sudden, that she burst out laughing wildly at his antics as the storm door on the house slammed shut. She walked over to the door, saw he was definitely gone, and closed the front door, shaking her head. That was the last thing she expected, the oddest thing that could have happened in a moment where she thought he might take things in a different direction… and paused, smirking.
“Well, I guess that he sorta did just that…”
Chuckling, she went back to the kitchen where she had been putting away her things and smiled.
Two hours later,she was sitting in the recliner with an FM radio nearby, listening to music with her eyes closed and humming – because curse him – Drake was right… again. Her favorite thing to do in the evenings when she was bored was doomscrolling on social media until she nodded off. She laughed at TikTok, shopped endlessly on Amazon with a wish list that was staggering, and simply gazed at photos of people living their lives… and wishing for a little magic like that for herself… only to hear a knock on her door.
Lifting her head off the recliner, she turned to the door like she could see through the wood – and glared.
No one ever knocked or came over – except Drake. She was not ready for round two with the infernal man who was likely to do something crazy just to get a rise out of her after ‘yoinking’ her keys from her hand and running away. He could have been sweet, maybe even congenial or romantic, but whatwould forever be known as the ‘Great Yoinkening’ was highly… childish.
“Go away…” she called out – and heard a knock again – muttering wildly to herself as she got up and stomped toward the door. “My goodness, don’t you ever listen? Obviously, you’ve had your butt kissed a little too much by society and needed to get told no more often because you are…” and she yanked open the front door to see him standing there with a bag.
“I get told ‘no’ more than you realize,” he offered sheepishly, smiling at her. “Hi.”
“What are you doing here – and what’s that?”
“A new cell phone for my fiancée,” he shrugged, handing her the bag. “Oh, and there are a few goodies inside that seemed appropriate for us, you know, because we’re engaged so… g’night now, Steffi.”
And he pivoted, put his hands behind him, and sauntered off toward his house – whistling like he didn’t have a care in the world.
“You…” she sputtered, staring in the bag – and sure enough, there was an iphone box down inside along with a few other packages. “Wait, Drake – hold on… you got me a cell phone?”
He turned, looked at her, and continued walking backward to his house – grinning.
“I missed you sexting me.”
Her mouth dropped open – before she exploded. “I was not sexting you – I would never sext you! Were you dropped on your head as a baby?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes nearly popped out of her sockets. “YOU WERE?”
“No, but I wish I had taken a picture of that face you just made. I bet that’s your ‘O’ face in bed…” and then he threw his hands up over his face like she was going to hurt him. “Don’t be mad, it was a joke!”
“You’re utterly disgusting.”
“I’ve been told that before – yes – but usually I have a shrimp hanging from my nostril or chopsticks…”
“Oh my gosh,” she muttered, not quite sure what to make of him anymore. One moment he was sweet, and the next, he was putting her back on her heels with an enormous amount of sheer stupidity that was staggering. “You’re not right in the head.”
